Response to Alyssa to David

 Is Alameda better or Oakland? I think Alameda is more peaceful, but at times Oakland can be peaceful too.
Alyssa says,

   I do not have any statistics to back up these factors, but I think Oakland has a bigger population than Alameda.  If there are more people wandering the streets of Oakland, accidents are bound to happen. On the other hand, Alameda barely has any shopping places except for South Shore and maybe Park Street, making accidents less possible.
Oakland is much dirtier where I live and there are a lot of homeless people there. In Alameda, the streets are much cleaner and I don't see any homeless people around here. There are much more events in the city of Alameda compared to Oakland.

 She says Oakland's population causes accidents. If there are more people, I agree that there will be more accidents. With a "Chinatown" in Oakland, they have more stuff being sold. At Alameda, it is much smaller than Oakland and easy to handle when bad things happen.  Oakland can be dirty in some areas and cleaner in others, but it isn't all dirty. There are more places and sites to see at Oakland because of it's size. I prefer Alameda over Oakland because I may always have to live in fear when I step out of my house. Sometimes, Oakland events can be rumored to be out of control when people describe drive by shootings. I enjoy Oakland because there are much more places to walk around and in Alameda, you are always walking around the same area. There is more diversity in Oakland. The people there can be nice or mean or both, but I like how not everyone is the same.
    Why do some people hate Oakland so much? I think they hate Oakland either because of the things they hear, or the bad luck they have in that city. Some people are struck with one accident and they are scared to death to go back to Oakland so they decide to leave. Some people hate Oakland because they hear that its bad. Some people just tell other people how bad Oakland is to sound tough or have something exciting to say.

A long way gone, Discussion #3

   In the third discussion of the book A Long Way Gone, we spoke many times about events in the rehabilitation center and the death of people in the war. The book ends with Ishmael, the author, being chosen to go to a rehab center with half of the soldiers he worked with and to recover from his past experiences. In the ending he works well with a lady, Esther, who helps him recover and a man Leslie who helps him find his Uncle who just happens to live in this new place, Sierra Leone. Along with this, he is united with a family member who loves Ishamel and Ishmael attends a conference in New York to talk about children who deal with war. He goes back home after the conference to Sierra Leone and Sierra is raided by rebels and soldiers who are fighting each other but disrupts the capital. Ishmael doesn't like the news but doesn't panic as much as the civilians do because this isn't his first time dealing with war. He is all too familiar with these war tactics and leaves the city because he doesn't want the soldiers to recruit him, again. He fears joining the army again and witnessing deaths of people he care about.
   The most important factor of Ishmael's life is rehabilitation center because he learns to get off his drugs and stops being so violent. He says he is a child now and not a soldier. Because of the center he turned from "kill any rebel, no matter what" to a regular boy who enjoys life. He craves drugs in the beginning of rehab and sells school supplies to a dealer. He throws stones at people who get water and stabs people that are rebels. He makes people's lives miserable, but everyone claims, its not their fault.
    Our discussion discussed why he seemed like he liked war more than the rehab center at first. He seemed as if he liked war more possibly because of the violence he enjoyed. He only fought rebels because the soldiers recruited them and told them that they killed their families. The soldiers kind of brainwashed them by telling them lies to make them kill the rebels off and giving the young soldiers drugs to take to relieve of pain when they are shot so they'd have no idea and just keep fighting harder and harder. He seemed as if he liked war more because of his lieutenant because when he left his leader, he wanted to turn back around the truck he was in, and go back.
   Ishmael didn't know what war meant. He'd rather stay in war than go to rehab, a safe place with food. It is easy to survive. He ends up having to escape Sierra Leone and given a story told, but his family keeps on leaving him.

Response to - Jealousy

When people are jealous, it isn't always bad. Jealously leads the human life. In a quote from Max'd,

    I then found out another ASTI kid wrote about this blog. Looking at their two blogs, I read something that I have never even thought of before. Jealousy. They talk about how being jealous makes us all these things, "Being jealous is a dangerous feeling in my opinion. It can lead to depression, angriness, and other unwanted feelings" Along with this they discuss how instead of feeling like this they should be thinking about how grateful they are for things. I was a little puzzled by this. How is being jealous the same thing as being grateful.

   He describes being jealous as a dangerous feeling in his opinion. I think its a good thing to be jealous in life. First of all, it is a feeling of being alive. The only way you can be jealous is if your still alive. Second of all, being jealous just drives humans to work harder. If your jealous of your peer for reading about a hundred pages more than you, you would work harder to read more than him. People like to gloat, and in order to gloat, they have to be better than their competition. People often cheat when they are jealous, however. They give up and don't believe they can achieve what other people have achieved, so they turn to cheating. This is one con of jealousy. It causes people to do things they would have never done if they weren't worse than someone. Jealousy, Max describes it, can lead to depression, angriness, and other unwanted feelings, but if people are jealous, it just pushes them to work harder. It is a great experience in life. When someone runs a mile in three minutes, the next person would want to run faster than the first person in order to be noticed. Jealousy causes people to achieve more. 
   However, another downfall for jealousy is hatred. When someone is jealous of another, they would hate the person until they are better than them. They would focus on achieving higher than that person than talking to them. Talking to them just reminds them to work and work, to step up.
   Jealousy can lead to good achievements and bad occurrences, but I see jealousy as a driving force to human life. It makes them want to work harder.

Group discussion #2, ideas.

   While discussing with my group about the book, A Long Way Gone, ideas that were brought up were ideas such as the soldier's use of drugs for energy for the younger soldiers and another idea was the idea that the soldiers only fought the rebels to relieve their pain, but did killing the killers of their family really relieve pain or was "they killed our family" just an excuse.
    In the second chunk of the book A Long Way Gone, Ishmael trains to be a soldier and accomplishes it after running from several villages who either kicked Ishmael and his friends out or Ishmael and his friends decide to leave because they fear that rebels would arrive at that village and devastate another village. Ishmael and his friends lose their family because of a man picking banana leaves who knew the direction to the village but caused the boys to lose their family. The boy's families were supposedly in a village that the boy's nearly arrived at, but the rebels beat them to the village and burned everyone there. They explained that "no one escaped" and that they thought it was fun. The boy's arrive at a different village and are forced to become soldiers to protect the village. They crush the rebels on their first encounters and two of Ishmael's friends die in front of him. This gives him the anger he needs to start being gruesome and cruel. The boys smoke drugs, watch war movies and go to war. This is their life now and they need to do this in order to protect the rest of the people of that village. The plentiful drugs they are given give them energy but makes Ishmael not hungry. In our discussion, we discussed if the drugs were good energy for the soldiers because towards the end of this discussion, the soldiers going to rehab was mentioned and they go crazy after days of not having the drugs they are addicted to. In my opinion, I think the drugs should go away and they weren't good energy for the soldiers even if it gave them energy.
    We discussed how the soldiers turned mean and started to kill. They would have never killed if the high ranking soldiers didn't mention that the rebels killed their parents, which then gave the soldiers a reason to want to kill the rebels. My group mates explained to me that the higher ranking soldiers needed to give the new soldiers a reason to kill the rebels because they really needed the recruits to fight the rebels off. This changed my perspective of the soldiers and why they did this. I believed that they did it to lie to get recruits to kill the rebels, but instead they were fending the rebels off to defend the village occupied by many people whose been separated from their family.
    The discussion allowed me to think differently of the methods of the soldiers and how and why they did what they did.

Book - A long way gone, discussion ideas.

     From A Long Way Gone, many values of life and death shown in the book were revealed during discussion. The book, A Long Way Gone, tells a true story about a boy living in a world of danger. Rebels of his country attack and he is forced to flee village to village, gripping onto his life as he sneakily escapes multiple situations of death. A Long Way Gone written by Ishmael Beah, shows cruel scenes of the rebels by describing their way of torture by misusing their guns. The rebels are fighting to make a point. In discussion of the rebels, the rebels are believed to be in this rebellion for such an amount of time, they forget what they are fighting for. Life and death shown in the book were scenes when the narrator had to to anything they could to survive. Examples of his quick decisions are when he steals corn from a boy much younger than him with his friends. He steals a cob of corn and allows the boy to run away crying, but this was beneficial to him because the boy's mom offered his friends and him more corn. Ishmael also almost faced death when he decided to return to Mattru Jong when he was in need of money. He believed money would help him but no one valued money enough to exchange for food because if they were to become without a home, they'd need the food for themselves. Life and death situations caused Ishmael Beah to commit to actions he wouldn't have committed if he was not as desperate.
     In discussion with the group, things in the book went from worse to terrible. Kids such as Beah at his age of twelve couldn't be trusted anymore because everyone feared that they were rebels in disguise. Ishmael Beah found a family at a river and noticed that they didn't trust him, so all he could do was ask him for directions to his next destination. Villages not torn apart yet had strong volunteered men guarding the village for rebels. Ishmael and friends and family were rounded up by the men and almost drowned because of the preference of the villagers. The villagers chanted for a drowning of the kids, but after being questioned, they were let off.
     The group agrees that Ishmael Beah portrays a worthless way rebels use their money. The picture on the front shows a boy holding a gun and walking alone with broken sandals. No one would and could help him because they were hiding in fear. Rebels tore apart the homes of the residents and caused people to go desperately trying to survive.
     A Long Way Gone gives a sense of nonfiction because of Ishamel's luck. The end of discussion closes with  Ishmael and the new seven boys. They are rumored to be the seven boys, and have encountered muscular men together. The boys of the book adapt to their circumstances, and for that reason, they can overcome obstacles that some can't.

The Kite Runner Essay

 3. What are the weaknesses of this book, in your opinion?
    8. Pick a character that interested you and write about them in depth. You can also analyze a relationship between two different characters.

4. How would you describe the author's style of writing? What's your opinion of the style?

• You must include a passage or two from the text if you choose this question.

Vic Xuan 
Sutherland
English, Period 2
November 23, 2010 

The Kite Runner is a historical fiction novel written by Khaled Hosseini. It portrays a story of the main character Amir, an ignorant Afghan child who matures into a responsible adult. He encounters numerous stumbles in his path to joy, but his outcomes with strangers always lead him towards the correct pathway. The writer allows Amir to survive throughout the book even though he faces the toughest challenges. Amir fought with a long time enemy and retrieved a mysterious nephew who was surprisingly his relative. Even when Amir was in deep danger, he wasn’t ever replaced with a new character. He belonged in the story and lived through depressing events. He did not ask for these challenges, but never gave up when they arrived. In the Kite Runner, all but Amir remain around during the whole book because if his life ended, the book had no storyline.

    Overall, the book was an uprising of conflicts that ended with kite running. As soon as Hassan got hurt by Assef, Amir kept bringing pain to him and threw fruit at him. Hassan wasn’t making a big deal out of the assault, but Amir was. The ending with kite running between two characters was an unexpected end to the book. It was unexpected because it was right after a social conflict of trying to take Sohrab to America. The conflict before the ending had no big event. In my opinion, I expected a breakdown of Amir or Sohrab wrapping himself in a life threatening situation because Sohrab was a troublemaker in Amir’s life. He didn’t commit any trouble by himself, but because Amir had to care for him, he was trouble. Amir finally discovered a method to bring Sohrab back to America, and he was in the bathroom, and when Amir tried to tell him the plan,

    “We won’t have to put you in the orphanage, Sohrab. We’re going to America, you and I. Did you hear me? We’re going to America!... Suddenly I was on my knees, screaming. Screaming through my clenched teeth. Screaming until i thought my throat would rip and my chest explode. (pg 343)

    “...He says the boy had cut himself deeply and had lost a great deal of blood and my mouth begins to mutter that prayer again.”(pg 348)

The intensity of events such as these, astonished me when Sohrab finally had a chance to go to America and it happened without interference. In my opinion, I believed the ending with,
    “...but suddenly i was twelve again and all the old instincts came rushing back.” (pg 368)
The ending with happiness approached me as weak because throughout the whole book, predicaments arose, one after another and suddenly after a soft conflict of America, they succeed and live happily. In such a conflicted book, I hoped for a huge event to take place in the end, just as tense events occurred during the book.
    The author writes this historical fiction novel in first person point of view to reveal Amir’s thoughts and feelings. However, when he uses “I” it does not refer to the writer himself but Amir. The purpose for using first person is to give more details on the perspective of the subject from the main character’s point of view. The author also manipulates a sense of flashback, not in his own sense since it his a fictional novel, but in a fictional sense of Amir’s life. When he flashes back and Amir is telling the story, throughout the book, Amir contributes passages from his story that help readers recognize that the story is written from past experiences. When sitting with Kamal and Baba in the truck he describes his memory with Hassan.

    “I think it’s YA MOWLAH on RUBAB strings....
    “ I didn’t remember what month that was, or what year even. I only knew the memory lived in me, a perfectly encapsulated morsel of a good past, a brushstroke of color on the gray, barren canvas that our lives had become.” (pg 123)

Amir says he doesn’t remember and acts throughout the book as if he was telling the story. amir was responsible for describing all his events and if he didn’t, he’d just not remember it. The author, Khaled Hosseini’s style of writing causes readers to fall into the flashback manipulation. My opinion on this style of writing is positive. I enjoyed reading about Amir’s story and how he described it as if he was really telling the story.

    “The rest of that ride is scattered bits and pieces of memory that come and go, most of it sounds and smells: MiGs roaring past overhead; staccatos of gunfire; a donkey braying nearby; the jingling of bells and a mewling of sheep; gravel crushed under the truck’s tires; a baby wailing in the dark; the stench of gasoline, vomit, and shit.” (pg 123)

I do enjoy this style of telling a story in a book because it allows me to feel like he is three dimensional in front of me and explaining his life. I also enjoy this writer’s style because the things he doesn’t remember don’t affect the story in any way but only brings up the idea that there is more to what he is describing. Overall the manipulation of Amir’s storytelling and his flashback way of description is an enjoyable flow of reading which guided me through the important details of the novel.
    All of the characters were different from each other. Some of which Rahim Khan, Hassan, Amir, Ali, and Baba all were part of the same household in Afghan. Rahim Khan and Baba were brave and respectful people. They couldn’t inspire Amir enough for Amir to cowardly run away when Hassan was being assaulted by three teenagers much larger in size than Amir and Hassan combined. Hassan was loyal and much more like his father, Baba, than Amir was. Hassan once protected Amir when Baba mentioned,

    “Hassan steps in and fends them off. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” (pg 22)

This quote is about Amir acting in cowardly ways. Hassan is smaller and less fit than Amir, but still, he is willing to stand up for Amir.
    Amir is a selfish coward. Amir framed Hassan for stealing his watch just so his pain would be relieved. Previously, he felt so bad that he threw pomegranates at Hassan so he’d fight back. Amir’s nothing like Baba. Baba stood up for a man in the truck. Amir turned out differently from everyone in his household.
    Amir showed his selfish self when Rahim Khan generously asked him to pick up Sohrab, Hassan’s son. When they spoke, all Amir could think about was,

    “I have a wife in America, a home, a career, and a family. Kabul is a dangerous place, you know that, and you’d have me risk everything for...” ( pg 221)

Amir was too scared to die so he didn’t want to save Sohrab, at first. but he was guilted into going to pick up Sohrab by Rahim Khan. Baba would have agreed and not feared the risks. Amir was too spoiled, having everything done for him when he was a child. Amir finally grew up later and understood the poverty some people face. Amir donated money to Farid’s friend. He wouldn’t take “no” for an answer.
    Amir grew up as a coward but after his family and childhood died, he fulfilled his regrets by offering generosity to people who are generous to him or just ones who deserved it. He doesn’t just give away money though. He gives it to the ones who really need it and are suffering. There's always a cause for Amir's actions.
    As we’ve seen, this novel contains complex characters and a protagonist whose narrative style helps bring the story to life. It also contains a strong description in chronological order of Amir’s life. The book brings enjoyment and entertainment to readers. This book would be beneficial to readers who enjoy constant conflicts. Conflicts rise, one after another even as the reader believes the biggest event has occurred, another conflict occurs. The book might offer an important perspective on the world when readers encounter bullying and disruption in places like Afghan. It can offer a lesson in regret and redemption and also the route to take when in panic. The book The Kite Runner exhibits a story of Amir being guided through a life of hardship.

The end of Kite Runner (Thoughts)

   Amir was a lucky man who overcame an abundant amount of obstacles. I expected the ending to eradicate Amir's life. He can't be the only one left alive. He is a guilty man full of regrets but he is left alive instead of Hassan who was brave and loyal. Amir is in guilt and regret but believes he has redeemed himself after letting Assef nearly kill him. The ending was freedom and redemption for Amir
   The new characters in the third chunk of the book are a replacement of old characters. The main characters such as Hassan who died, only occurred as an event that included conflict, but they weren't permanently gone. When Hassan left, his son replaced him. Sohrab served as an ongoing Hassan after the author Khaled Hosseini got rid of Hassan. Hassan was never gone. His death was only a part of tension building up to the end. Sohrab is good with a slingshot, he's brave and is described with characteristics like Hassan.
   On the other hand, Sohrab tends to give up on life because he had experienced bad things at the orphanage. He has no thoughts of going back and getting hurt when Amir asks him to. Hassan is loyal and brave but Sohrab is brave and still a child. He hasn't experienced harsh pain and will forever fear orphanages.
   After hearing news from Soraya, Sohrab decided to kill himself, but he was defectively saved. Subsequently after the good news from Soraya when Sohrab broke out in his tub, he was saved. I think this was the last negative event, but i'd have enjoyed the book more if the author didn't provide a repetitive description of the hospital. When Amir was in the hospital, there was a man with a cast and also a windowsill. When Sohrab was in the hospital, there was also a man with a cast and he was next to the windowsill. Also, i don't believe they played a role through the story.
   Kite running in the end was a chance to kite run again for Amir. He said he "was twelve again" and "all the instincts came running back". He was one again happy. He was finally living a happy life, the life he may have wanted to live. Without trouble and pain. Assef was gone and this life was almost like a new beginning. The childhood characters of his childhood are gone and he has a new family he has to support. He won't need to worry about supporting the the sick people from his youth.
   Amir was a generous man when he slipped money under the mattress of Farid's friend, but was indecently selfish when he left the office of the lawyer with a "have you ever been a father" and was notified that his daughter died. He still left.
  Amir promised God he'd do all the things a religious man would do. He was finally relieved and could carry out a life without pain.

Response to Fermin

    People come and go. They enter the world and leave it. They step on the Earth and disintegrate on it. There is no person that will live forever and when they go, even though its expected, is a sad moment. Fermin explains it...

       A guy that i knew, is no longer with us today. His name was Eric and he was shot and killed by nortno which is a dangerous gang in Oakland. Eric was a very cool, smart and atheletic teenage kid who enjoyed playing football and hang out with friends. He was not gang affileated. He was going to go to Chico State University because he was offered a chance to play in their football team. In March 28, 2010, he was shot and killed. He was celebrating his birthday when a drive by happened. Now, he is no longer with us today.

    Living in a dangerous place, you should expect at least on person out of a group to die. In order to stay away from death, people from that group should stay away from trouble. It is a horrifying experience when you aren't part of something but take the consequence. The person killed isn't always lucky. When someone dies, there isn't always a reason. People die just out of a coincidence. I would  use to feel that the people who died, did something wrong and had to pay for it. But, many great intelligent people as "Eric" was unfortunate enough to have this even occur on his birthday.

   Some very fortunate people die young. However, everyone dies. They can't stay forever, or that'd make them feel bored. Dieing is just a way of life just as life being unfair is a contribution to feeling alive.  It is a terrifying moment when someone dies. Reminiscing about the past can only bring you down more and more, so that person will always be in one's heart. Letting go and forgetting can only contribute to the more important thing, the future. There are many things in life awaiting to come. Some people grieve, some people eat excessively, destroying themselves, and some people lose hope in life.

Jesse's opinion on Vic's blog

Jesse's post about Vic's blog invites me to think about fishes and online marketing. He says you can buy fishes and use them in the tank in Vic's awesome blog, but that isn't a great idea because the fishes vanish as soon as you refresh the page.

Anyone who reads this and wants to look at Vic's fish tank, My first question is there is a little search box above the tank that says something about searching other fish from other websites and adding them to the tank. I haven't tried it out yet, but I don't know whether or not you can actually get other fish or if you have to go through a bunch of stupid downloading crap and pay for the fish. Anyone who tries it out before I do, could you post a comment on either my blog or Vic's blog saying if you can or can't.

   Jesse supposes that he saw the search bar and believed that you could buy virtual fishes and feed them. If you would buy a fish from a site, then that'd be a waste of money and it can also be stolen or lost. Many people are afraid to purchase stuff online because they are afraid to lose it and get scammed. If they got scammed once they wouldn't buy anything else online and that causes online purchasing to falter.
   I agree with Jesse's post that Vic's blog is awesome. However, i disagree with him about downloading stuff online to get it to the box. If you were to download something online for a fish tank you can recieve a virus or even crash your computer because the download may not always be safe.
   I think the most unsafe way to purchase something is to do it online. Jesse would purchase something if someone else did it because if someone did it and nothing bad happened to them nothing bad would happen to him. But, Jesse doesn't know that consequences do not come right away. Maybe they have to use the fish first or they have to complete their download of the fish. Downloading is a whole another story because it is free and efficient. Illegal downloads are ililegal because they are copyrighted. Downloading fishes online is a better choice than purchasing them. If a purchase is easier than a download and the person is willing to pay for a virtual fish, they shouldn't download it.
   Overall, no one should purchase nor should they download fishes online. It is a waste of money and a big risk to download, usually because downloads take a long time and people just rush through it.

2nd Chunk of Kite Runner Complete, Thoughts

              In the first section of the NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER book The Kite Runner, by KHALED HOSSEINI, Amir and Hassan were doing fine living together and playing around, but they started to fall apart after Hassan's assault from Assef and later one of them ends up leaving. The first section leaves Amir and   Baba living together but then, leaving to America.
              In the second section of the three chunks in the book The Kite Runner, many strange things have occurred and new conflicts have rose to even further develop the plot and storyline of the book. The main characters remain the family in Amir's house in Afghanistan. The people living in that house were "either dieing or dead" quoted Amir when he was discussing with Rahim Khan. Amir is the lucky one. He survives because he only cares about his own life. In the first section of the book, he would frame Hassan for stealing his birthday presents and get them sent away because he was guilty of not helping Hassan when he was in trouble. In this section of the book, Amir is asked by Rahim Khan to go pick up Sohrab, Hassan's offspring but amir refuses even when Rahim says that's a wish he would like granted before his death. Amir thought about how it would affect his life before anything else. He says, "I don't want to go to Kabul. I can't!" (pg220)
              I enjoy this book because more events rise out of nowhere. When Amir left to America he met Soraya. When he talks to Rahim, he has to get Sohrab and discovers his missing brother.The book constantly introduces new events and conflicts that continues to deepen my understanding of the characters such as Amir and his maturity. Amir starts to lessen his selfishness when shown after hearing about Wahid's poverty, he leaves them money. The second part of the book starts to kill off the characters. Rahim Khan is sick and suffering and Baba has died after not accepting help. Hassan and Farzana are gone, but the book introduces new characters that replace the old ones.
              Guilt is another part of Amir's decisions because after Rahim Khan tells Amir of Hassan's real mother and father, Amir regrets the time he disrespected him and didn't help him. Hassan's family wasn't clearly explained until the relationship between Baba and Hassan was told.
               The Kite Runner continues to bring in new conflicts which allows it to intensify the ending as it approaches.
          

11-5-10 Response

I think school times should be shortened and only teach the things that we want to learn and want to use for the rest of our lives to survive. I agree with Andy's post of shortening the school.

 Everyone only has one childhood; we should be able to enjoy it as much as possible and have lots of happy memories to remember it by. I spend two thirds of a day sleeping and at school. I barely have any time to spend with friends and family after I finish doing my homework too, especially now since ASTI, the Alameda Science and Technology Institute, gives more homework than regular schools.Sometimes, I'm so overloaded with homework that I'm still doing my homework at 11 o'clock PM, leaving 7 and a half hours to sleep absolutely no time do hang out with friends and family.

Every child does have one childhood and should be able to enjoy it. They shouldn't suffer as a child because of school nor should they suffer as an adult, working all day trying to support theirselves. School takes up a third of the day and sleep as well. That leaves about eight hours left for everything else we must do. Homework also takes up three to five hours so that leaves around four hours left in the day. Everyday, students have four hours of free time.
Also, I agree with how Andy says that Alameda Science and Technology Institute gives more homework than middle and elementary schools. Students don't have enough time to do anything because their day is hogged up by schoolwork. I believe students should choose what subject they want to learn so they don't waste time learning other subjects that they won't need for the career they want to carry out. For example, if someone wants to be a math teacher, they shouldn't need to learn science. The leftover subjects they learn are a waste of their childhood if they aren't going to use it in the future.
Therefore, schools should be shortened and that may also save money. It can benefit the school for better materials and improve the school. Without leftover subjects, we wouldn't waste as much stuff as we do now.

11-4-10

Social networking are just things people use to communicate within long distances.Social networking is a great way of staying in tough with people and connecting with others. Ivan's description on how Facebook can be harmful shows problems people may be having with it. 

Facebook could also get into someone’s mind and begging to addict them, making it a priority for people to get on a computer and start posting. With posting comes some consequences such as bullying and also people knowing the every movement that a person is taking where they live and are in the moment when they are alone, when they are in the bathroom, eating and everything else that they are doing.  People take advantage and now creepers don’t have to leave for little kids to chase they just hop on a computer! Does this give too much power to pedophiles.

   I agree that Facebook can get addicting sometimes, but there isn't much to do on Facebook besides the childish games. Facebook can't intervene in life for a long period of time because it is simply searching and reading. People wouldn't know every movement a person is taking if they don't publicize it. Possibly, the people who do publicize it, don't mind other people knowing about their life and privacy. People know when they are giving out too much information.
   As for the ped... they aren't given too much power because Facebook and other social networks have private settings to adjust things for other people to see.Facebook doesn't allow ped... to slack off. It is an easier route for them on finding who to target, but many people fear bullies too much to personalize their settings so anyone can read their information. Therefore, I don't believe social networking is a horrible way to keep in touch with people or just a convenient site to use, because many people are aware of what may happen if they do reveal too much information. Facebook is not a must, but it is a free way to communicate. Other than that, a cell phone would be for better use but it costs money.

First impression on The Kite Runner

   After taking a long week and a few more days of reading the first chunk out of three of the historical fiction, Kite Runner, I have noticed many types of variation in the writing and description of Kahled Hosseini’s characters. The main characters that stuck with me were Amir, Hassan, and Baba. Baba and Hassan share a slandering relationship during one scene in the first chunk of the book. Baba doesn’t believe the things Amir does is tough enough and doesn’t believe he’ll turn out the tough son he hoped for. Self consciousness dominates the conflict in the book. Hassan being a Hazara and befriending Amir encourages Amir to turn his back on Hassan, as he did when Hassan was being assaulted. He didn’t believe Hassan was worth the trouble to worry about and walked away. The friendship between these two are not as close as real friends would be. Amir is self conscious about playing with Hassan when people are around. The characters in the book are very disrespectful to Hazaras, as they question Amir’s care for Hassan. An evil worshipper of Hitler, Assef represents a confident boy who brings trouble in Afghanistan.
    Assef is one in the book who causes a conflict between Hassan and Amir. Amir witnesses Hassan’s assault but does nothing to prevent it, worrying what may happen to him if he did. He didn’t really understand what Hassan was going through at the moment when he ran away cowardly. Amir was forced to lie about Hassan’s situation and was filled with guilt when he slept. However, Amir and Hassan have been raised together and played together for a long time of their lives. Amir would play jokes on him when he did not know a word when reading a book because he was illiterate.

“Imbecile. It means smart, intelligent.” (page 29)

    Though Amir and Hassan start to drift away when Amir tries to distinguish his guilt from Hassan by avoiding him.
In general, the book was a blend of a boring introduction to the book with around forty pages, but led to intense conflict that flowed well with the results and consequences the characters took.

Reflective Essay

    Reflective Essay

    Looking back towards the previous blog posts, there have been some progression in writing and also life.Having a blog improved the type of techniques I use in writing because my thinking about it has changed my ideas for my posts. With writer’s block, I tend to get stuck and learn new ways and patterns that help eliminate this problem. I wrote about how some things trouble me and why. I try to explain in detail every factor of my predicament. My blog posts are mainly responses to other people. I mainly express my feelings for other people’s blogs and respond in an abundant amount of ways. I have responded to pop singers and also bullying posts. I tried to use my list of vocabulary words in my writing but they don’t always incorporate into the sentences. I enjoyed exploring other student’s ideas and also giving them my opinion on their posts.

    Blogging has become a weekly hobby of mine. It’s not a hobby because it is required in school, but I enjoy sharing my ideas and opinion with writer’s. Blogging on my computer has become a better method for me to learn and improve my writing rather than writing on paper and hurting my fingers all the time. I enjoy completing my homework assignments and progressing in writing online because the resources such as synonyms and dictionaries are easy to access. Blogging has changed the way I write because it has given me a plentiful amount of options for writing. Usually, I don’t write as much every week, but this year’s continual writing has helped me to flow my writing and be able to develop ideas throughout the week. I think differently when i write now because at the beginning of the English class school year, we wrote quick writes and I continued to have obstacles in the way of my writing. I can think about writing quickly after having to post two blog posts weekly. Writing every week for other readers around the world has allowed me to flow my ideas and express them for the world. It has made me think differently about writing because it isn’t just a requirement for a class anymore, its a way for me to express my ideas and opinions to other writers. Here’s a link to this post about opinion expressing and idea development to other writers. From this post, I have developed my ideas enough for it to be public appropriate and not go against any words. In this post, I’ve read the other post and learned how to express my opinion by building on top of his ideas. From a post about a ball game at a park, I picked out an idea that wasn’t directly introduced but is evidenced in the post.

 

This quote shows the possibilities of danger at a sport's event. A three year old about half the size of the bar rail was unlucky enough to be struck accurately towards the head. It is definitely better to view sports games from the television. From this experience, even though not in my eyes gives a sense of awareness that a person needs in order to maintain a safe environment for himself.

Therefore, weekly blogging has altered my opinion in writing and quickly think up ideas to ramble on.

    When writing, I try to maintain a viewpoint when reading other people’s writing. I try not to be too subjective and evaluate the ideas of the student. My writing is based upon other student’s writing. I prefer to read other student’s weekly blog posts before I start mine because it gives me a sense of what to write for the week. Reading other student’s posts helps me think of methods to formulate sentences and use new vocabulary. When I read other student’s writing, I try to express my opinion on their ideas and how I think of it differently or similarly. Having done that and choosing differently, I can express my opinion and possibly have the right to change their viewpoint of the subject the next time they think about it. However, my ideas from my posts are originated from things I see in life life that people may disagree or agree with.The thing that inspires me to write is the feel of responding to a person and possibly changing their opinion. For example, our first blog post about bullying, I responded to a student who believed bullies bullied because they were angry and they needed a source to explode, so they choose to bully. This post has led me to think of a new way of bullies and why they bully. There is always a soft side to bullies, as expressed in the post, and they can always be nice. I am also inspired to write because writing publicly appropriate posts has allowed me to write more like a reviewer and less like a novelist. I am inspired to write because it is a form of communication and helps me improve myself when I read and analyze my own posts. To incorporate my ideas to counter another person’s idea was a new method for me. There was a post about a pop star that the writer hated, and I came to oppose him.

There is no reason for them to rethink their life, because singers are their obsession. Everyone has their own obsession. It is an insult to say they will end up as a hobo on the street because as of now, Justin Bieber! is a star who will fade away later in life.

Not all days will include an idea, so that’s why I tend to talk about life’s ideas such as danger or fun. My inspired writing by self improvement comes from things that people can relate to and understand.

    Writer’s block was a serious structure that prevented me from writing on the first week of school because I was clustered with thoughts not about the prompt. From my struggles with writer’s block, I have learned that it is easier to write when not given a sudden specific prompt to write about. Writer’s block has taught me to prepare more and brainstorm many ideas so if I get stuck, I’ll have more to explain. I am finished explaining but I don’t understand the rest of the prompt. I usually enjoy brainstorming during class because it is a very helpful thing to use when writing. It supplies a better amount of detail to specify details but isn’t as organized as it would have been with a brainstorm sheet. Writer’s block is just a path that I tend to take because I have answered the prompt too brief and broad. An example of encountering writer’s block and getting around it by describing more about the prompt in detail that should have been included earlier is portrayed by this post. This post continues on and on because there is a required amount of words. After reading my writing, I start to add more ideas that could have been added when mentioning the idea earlier.

Things shifted as scary became horrifying. The doctor came out of his little work room and brought me into his examining room. I resisted by telling him to wait for my mom to bring me in, but I supposed it was fine. It was, until he started talking to me. I was speechless and too frightened to talk thinking that if i said something wrong, he would possibly shoot me.

This quote shows redundancy I used to continue and lengthen my writing. Writer’s block was just a phase when I stopped writing but as I encounter it more, it becomes a phase where I explain an idea with more specific detail.

    For the next quarter I hope to improve my writing on my blog. I expect to put more time into my blog posts and brainstorm my responses before responding. I want to incorporate more words from my vocabulary list as I learn to use them more. I want to not procrastinate and do my blog posts at the end of the week. Most importantly, I want to cut out redundancy and notice when I am being redundant so it doesn’t make my writing sound repetitive. My writing isn’t as well as it will ever be, and a goal of mine is to improve it at least better than this quarter’s posts. For my next quarter blog posts, my goal is to improve the details of my writing and also the structure of my writing.

Of Mice and Men

Vic xuan

Period 2

10/18/10

The novela, Of Mice and Men by John Steinback is about helpless workers who need to find a living by traveling together, George Milton and Lennie Short. They encountered and overcame many obstacles throughout their adventure but come to a conflict with their new job. The central conflict in Of Mice and Men is character vs character and it is showed when Curley shows his hatred to Lennie. Curley has something against Lennie and Lennie doesn’t have permission to retaliate if Lennie were to attack him. George won’t back Lennie up if Curley starts something because he doesn’t want to lose his place in the ranch, so Lennie is left to a conflict on his own against Curley, the son of the ranch.

Lennie, being the one isolated from everyone else and being bullied by a man in power, introduces the central conflict in the story, character vs character. After arriving to the ranch, Lennie is detached from everyone else and Curley has brought up the idea in bullying the bigger person. Lennie has promised not to talk at the ranch in order to make no mistakes to keep their job and get a stake. Curley first meets the newcomers in the ranch and encounters Lennie by saying,

“Well nex’ time you answer when you’re spoke to.”(pg26) “He turned toward the door and walked out, and his elbows were still bent out a little. George watched him out, and then he turned back to the swamper. Say, what the hell’s he got on his shoulder?”

Curley demands for Lennie to talk instead of letting George talking his way through. Curley wants to humiliate Lennie and use Lennie’s confounding words as an excuse to hurt him. This quote shows character vs character because it shows that right in the beginning of book, he walks out after asking Lennie to talk and with an attitude, making a point of what he said, to talk. Lennie always had another person against him, this time its Curley who wants him gone.

Character vs character is based upon Lennie and Curley, and when Curley starts to rage, tension builds between the two. After Curley walks into the bunks where Slim, Candy, Carlson and George and Lennie are at, he looks for his wife. The men tease Curley for always looking for his wife and not having a hold on her. Candy cracks and joke and Lennie starts to giggle. He yells

“Come on, ya big b*s*a*d. Get up on your feet......I’ll show ya who’s yella.”(pg62)

This quote shows the conflict of character vs character because Curley is now directly targeting Lennie for an attack. Hes not holding back and is exploding his rage on Lennie, which will consequent in a fight and end when one person fatally hurts the other. The resulting character vs character conflict is a furious bloody fight between Lennie and Curley. This shows the tension between the two characters and how Lennie, staying at the ranch, always has to deal with Curley being on his back. Lennie is never safe to do anything relax or he’ll dread messing up. George must always look out for Lennie, but as he steps aways, Lennie must guard himself before Curley decides to get rid of him.

If committed a mistake, Lennie would panic and go through deep trouble. In the book, after accidentally killing Curley’s beloved wife because he panicked when she was screaming, Curley has found out and doesn’t show emotion for the death of his wife. Instead he quickly says,

“I’ll shoot ‘im in the guts. Come on, you guys.”(pg 96) “He ran furiously out of the barn. Carlson said, ‘I’ll get my Luger,’ and he ran out too.”

After seeing his wife, all he cares about is killing Lennie. He never showed any feeling towards her wife nor does he mention her at all. This shows that Curley has found his reason to kill Lennie and therefore, immediately heads out to hunt him down. He also believes that everyone else is going to help him and take down Lennie especially because Carlson agreed to shoot Lennie as well.

The conflict of character vs. character is widely displayed between Curley and Lennie’s bickering. When they first arrive, Curley has started to hate Lennie and even when they adjust to the ranch, he hates him. He will hate him until they leave. This connects to life today, because many smaller men tend to dislike bigger men because he wasn’t the size he would like to be. It’d make his life easier if there were no larger men around so he wouldn’t be considered small. Lennie is the driver for the conflict of the book. He causes Curley to hate him just because he is big. Character vs character is the main conflict in Of Mice and Men because the tension between Lennie and Curley continue to build up throughout the story and end with a death.

Response to Ivan A.

If murder is not justified for adults, why should it be justifiable for infants who cannot defend themselves? Murder is usually committed by ruthless people of whom they do not trust. Murder also should not be committed by their own parents, doctors or anyone. Just because people decide that, they want to have a boy when having a baby does not mean it will happen. There is only a 50% chance that a boy might be born. If people do decide to have a baby they should take, responsibility and take care for the child not kill it even though it is not the gender they choose.

      ivan explains murder as a horrible thing. In life, the ones who are less adapted and too weak to defend themselves die off. Adults are murdered as well as infants but more sympathy is given to infants. I agree that it is wrong for infants to be murdered because they are not the gender they wanted. If everyone murdered or threw the girl gender, there would be no girls in the world for life to stay alive. If people want a male boy, they can't get mad at the female baby and ruin her life. If people want to have a baby, they Should be prepared to face consequences such as a different gender, or any problems with the baby. Babies can perceive pain and that's why they cry.
       Babies that are killed for being the wrong gender suffer a horrible fate. They don't get to live. Parents that only allow one gender of baby are preventing varieties of gender in life. There will be a greater increase in one type of gender than another because of the choices parents make. Babies should be raised to make a living, and live in great welfare when parents don't get the baby they want, they shouldn't give it off. Subsequently, If parents are willing to take the chance to make a baby they are willing to raise and care for any type of baby.

Response to Jesse V.

In response to Jesse's quote on love for young popstars.  He shows that is is bad for academic students in high school to be obsessed with these kind of singers.

I think you guys will both be very lonely if you keep trying to singing Justin Bieber's songs, because if you do then (one) you will be devastated and live a pessimistic life when he dies and (two) you'll probably want to sing his songs for a living or something, but you would barely get any money and end up as a hobo on the street. ASTI probably accepted you to cure you from singing those songs all the time. You really need to rethink your life.

           I agree with this quote at first because even if a student really loves one singer, they wouldn't sing that person's song everyday. The reason they sing Justin Bieber's song may not be because of their love for the singer, but more of attention. I also disagree with this quote because, because you like a singer and they'll die, doesn't mean you shouldn't love that singer. All singer's die. Everyone ends up gone. Therefore, by the way the of the quote, no one should enjoy music because devestation will come when the singer dies. It is his opinion when he says Alameda Science And Technology accepted them to cure their love, like a therapy. But, I disagree wit this because ASTI is for education and preparation for college. After, he says "you really need to rethink your life". If they have chosen to come to ASTI and choose to make a living after academics and go through hardships, their life is fine as it is.
          There is no reason for them to rethink their life, because singers are their obsession. Everyone has their own obsession. It is an insult to say they will end up as a hobo on the street because as of now, Justin Bieber! is a star who will fade away later in life. To this quote, people can sing when they want but shouldn't do way to much to annoy people.

response 10/1

In response to Lanna wilson and when this person talks about

 At this stage in my life I'm thinking about what college I want to go to and how I'm going to get there. I kind of feel how Cameron does when he said, "To me it felt like I was sailing through it with out any obstacles in my way. All of a sudden, I am realizing that life is not so simple. As I am getting older, I am realizing the responsibilities I have are way more serious. No one is here to tell me to do my homework, or to make sure that I study for my tests...At first, I felt like ASTI was a walk in the park.

                 When children get older, they don't realize what kind of consequences they'll receive when they don't change their old elementary and middle school habits. This quote from Lanna shows their explanation when at this age in Alameda Science and Technology Institute they have to start thinking and preparing to go to college. They have to start to think about their future.
                   They need to start changing their habits in order to do all this other stuff. When starting at a new school, teachers would start easy in order for students to adapt to the flow, but if the students don't adapt then they are deep in regret. They need an, implement like an agenda in order to be successful at school. Subsequently after succeeding in ASTI, comes college. Responsibilities in college are prolonged. If completing responsibilities in high school and college successfully, great welfare would be the outcome. Taking "a walk in the park" in high school wouldn't destroy the chances of great welfare but will be an experience that can teach and realize that its not that simple. If you make a mistake as this stage in life, responsibilities are more serious. A student is on his own and their parents aren't doing their homework for them anymore. Tests and study habits are to be made by the student himself.
                  High school and college student's lives are in their hands now. They listen to the music they want. They eat the food they want for lunch. They study for their own selves and don't need to discuss with their parents. They make their own choices with a high amount of responsibility. They learn on their own and find out as Lanna puts it, a walk in the park at first. But from then on, they will need to learn the seriousness of school.

Response week 9/27/10

 In response to Colin's response to Amber,

"I chose ASTI because of its small size.  Its small size it what makes it a good school. Everybody gets more attention and personal help in getting to college. If ASTI was to increase, it would cost more for the district. They are alreadyn in the middle of a big budget crisis and California is in the middle of a huge budget crisis. ASti needs to stay the way it is now. It can increase to maybe 200 or 225 but and more is too much. Asti is a small family and it should stay that way. Most people know each other and it should stay that way. Even the principal knows everyone. That does not happen at a big school such as alameda high."

ASTI is chosen among a few schools in Alameda. The difference from ASTI and other AUSD schools is that this school is smaller and more people cooperate to get to know each other. When this happens, this school is special. Without the process of entering this school and the limit, it isn't so special after all. If anyone could get in,  then it wouldn't be as special as it is now. Competition for a school is better than letting anyone in.  Even if people from differentplaces, if they are from a bad neighborhood, they can still enter this school because of their unique difference from everyone else in their area. The limit is what allows this school to be good. Everyone gets the attention they need. To increase in size, some students won't get the amount of help they need because more people will require help.
For this reason, ASTI is in my mind better than the other public schools I've been to. ASTI offers a lot of extra opportunities for help, and if it were to increase in size, they'd need more helpers such as tutors.

Q's personality - Aquatic Uncle

Vic Xuan

Period 2

As the story of the Aquatic Uncle begins, Q and Uncle N’ba N’ga come to an encounter to visit their family members. The family of distinctive and ashamed animals reunited at this one visit. Q comes to a reunion with the whole family together and tries to be the nice guy. He tries to get Uncle to go back with his family to the bottom because it’s better to hunt on the bottom than the surface. When this happens an instant“no” is sharply replied. Q describes his Uncle as a remarkably rude person. Uncle was always grumpy but would mellow out after a while. Uncle’s rude attitude towards his family is disrespectful yet Q still pays respect to him.

From then on, after meeting up and discussing territories for hunting dragonflies, Q explains to Uncle the better method to hunt dragonflies, better on the bottom then on the water’s surface. Uncle was upset before this mention. Q tries to flatter the area he lives in, in order to allow Uncle to realize the incredible space he occupies. Instead, it went from offer to

“It just wasn’t possible to make him accept a reality different from his own.”. (page 73)

Then on, Q gives up quickly and constantly attempted to get his Uncle onto land. Q was ignorant and didn’t understand the Uncle’s adaptation to where he resides at the moment. He noted that managing to even take their great-uncle home with them would achieve a higher position than the rest of the family. Leaving the lagoon was a dream the Uncle would never accomplish.

"But the rivalry was pointless, because our uncle wouldn't dream of leaving the lagoon." (page 73)

"...whoever managed to take our great-uncle home with him would achieve a position of pre-eminence over the rest of our relatives." (page 73)

These quotes show how ignorant and misunderstood Uncle is, but also how ignorant Q is. He’s most likely being selfish and trying to achieve the higher position in his family by taking Uncle back home. It shows Uncle’s resistance to move because of his adapted advantages in the water. This relates to science when animals evolve and adapt to different types of environment. They don’t change enough to leave their home, but they do change in order to adapt to their home for fitness. When they attempt to take him home, then he would definitely deny it because Uncle is a fish and belongs in the water, not on land. He is very independent and doesn’t need Q for survival. However, in the alternative story of the dinosaurs era, he is shown as an accepting person but still abandons his son. This quote shows Q’s ignorance and personality when he says it wasn’t possible meaning he’s tried before on and on again but have failed. These quotes also show how it is almost a competition to bring Uncle back when one person would get a higher position. Q, being unaware of his surroundings and the requirements Uncle needs to survive, causes him to think poorly of Uncle when he doesn’t move back home with him.

Speechless health

            Standing next to our car, parked right outside the nicest but scariest place of a child's life, I developed a sense of fear. Rumors or the truth, are always talked about by kids when they return from a visit's to the doctor's. The most frightening thing is the shots that has no escape but to take them. The shots are great, but what comes to mind are the kids who continue to have the fear whenever visiting the doctor's. Next to our car, i walked into the doctor's waiting room. I was signed in, and he had me sit in the most soundless room, all besides the occasional toddlers who received their shots. It was a frightening moment to be waiting alone in the room while my mother made a trip to the bathroom. In my six year old head, i believed that the doctor could allow any shot to put on me if he wanted to. Considering the fact that a shot was for my own good wasn't even a choice. My idea was, if it hurt, it should be avoided.
            Things shifted as scary became horrifying. The doctor came out of his little work room and brought me into his examining room. I resisted by telling him to wait for my mom to bring me in, but I supposed it was fine. It was, until he started talking to me. I was speechless and too frightened to talk thinking that if i said something wrong, he would possibly shoot me.
             I trembled with fear and then came this one shot. My mom claimed that for the health of the school, they asked for a skin test. This required a rip of my skin, I thought. I decided to walk outside claiming I needed to use the toilet. He allowed him and just as i walked out, my mom came back saving my day. This was no help, since then i still needed a part of my skin cut off.

Better at home, then sorry

A ball game is a very serious sport to play. Even to watch in the stands, this sport is terrifyingly serious to be aware of your surroundings. When at a baseball game, things can be thrown and encounter your head or the professional batters can hit a home run out of the field and knock you out. This led to Yen's tragic day at an unexpected baseball game.

"Three innings in, the baseball collided into my skull. With my ears roaring, I blacked out at the sound of the sirens of an ambulance.

I shook my head dazed and confused, finding myself on a roll-away-stretcher.  I had no idea where I was.  After my eyes adjusted to the light, they focus on the shelves lining the walls.  My ears keened in to the medical tools clattered around in the boxes while we rolled along the high way towards the Children’s Hospital.  Hearing my mother’s voice behind me, I tried hoisting myself up"

            This quote shows the possibilities of danger at a sport's event. A three year old about half the size of the bar rail was unlucky enough to be struck accurately towards the head. It is definitely better to view sports games from the television. From this experience, even though not in my eyes gives a sense of awareness that a person needs in order to maintain a safe environment for himself. Many parents are unaware of their children having their own choices when they aren't looking and this can lead to tragic problems.
             At maybe a football game such as the Super Bowl, the crowd can react angrily towards the football players and throw trash everywhere. This can be an ironic situation when they miss and accidentally nail a child in the head. A ball game may not seem as a dangerous place compared to the field the players play on, but by itself, it can unintentionally hurt someone.
            Due to these consequences, the better choice would be to stay home safe and sound and be able to visibly watch and listen to the game without distractions.

My vocabulary list

1. implement
2. parameter
3. subsequent
4. revenue
5. welfare
6. clause
7. liberal
8. notion
9. perceived
10. hence

Response to V. Liang

In response to Victor's quote about bullying, Victor L.

"Mistreating others verbally or by force is not only totally wrong, but is absolutely unreasonable. When I was being made fun of by a few people, I felt humiliated and extremely mad. I couldn't do anything since I wasn't brave enough, so I tried to play along and pointlessly laugh at myself. I think people bully others to make themselves feel better and to scare others into liking them so they don't get humiliated like the last person. I think a person's own anger makes them not think of what they are doing, and let out their rage on others."

                           This quote shows two different ways for bullying being a bad cause in children life. He explains that bullying is unreasonable and terribly wrong to mistreat people. In his example of being made fun of by a few people, he explains the feeling of being embarrassed and how the victim will feel extremely mad just from a simple verbal language. He explains the feeling of being trapped and not being able to do anything because the bully had a group of people making fun of a single person who is weak and helpless. Whenever in trouble, you play along, just as Victor did by laughing along with the bully which made him look more helpless. The reason for bullying is explained, to make the bully feel better about themselves and to use direct force to gain love and respect.
                           Explanation for anger is because of bullying and it makes the person forget what they are getting themselves into. As in, during the moment of bullying, you almost focus on nothing else except for that one movement to bully and disrespect someone weaker than you. When that person is bullying, they will force rage upon the helpless person that isn't involved but is just unluckily picked to be picked upon. For this reason, this quote from victor's blog has given me a perspective in the way bullying can enrage people due to the blank outs during the moment of bullying and also the one being bullied can be that unlucky person who just happens to show up first in the bully's eyes. Overall, the depth of bullying is shown as he explains the humiliation and embarrassment of laughing along as he is trapped in between everyone's eyes.

Response - Alliances

TO Forbes, Colin Due to this blog post it has given me more and more depth in how ganging up in other student's lives are like. He describes it as a terrible feeling in this post.

"You feel like no one is on your side. For some people, bullying makes them feel powerful, and i believe this is why they do it, but for me it drags me down further by getting me in trouble and making me feel bad. When you are being mean to other people, it only makes people like you for a little while. One time, i made the mistake of being mean to someone. I was not the leader but i still participated. I did not have many options because of peer pressure and this kid hit me with a basketball."

                         This quote from his post explains the regrets that are gathered from being or performing the bullying actions. He says it "drags him further down" because he gets in trouble by teachers. Although, it also gives a sense that he would continue bullying if it wasn't for the consequences. Bullying in my opinion shouldn't be used even if there weren't any consequences.
                         Without consequences, bullying would rather be a free thing to do. He describes a feeling of bullying, in which the positive feeling lasts only temporarily. While the negativity from the victim stays forever in his opinion towards you. He also describes a feeling of being bullied by a kid with a basketball who purposely hit him. Colin explains it as terrible. During this time when he was being bullied, he explains that he was pure pressured into doing what he did to other kids. Pure pressure is a big factor in a child's life that must be contained or controlled. If not, then bullying and harassing may occur with even deeper consequences. In all, bullying is shown in Colin's blog post with an example of feeling bullied and doing the bullying, both of which is a horrible feeling.

Debates - mastered, Quotes for rebutals

David Hadorn, MD, PhD, Medical Consultant for GW Pharmaceuticals, Ltd., wrote in his July 17, 2003 document titled "Use of Cannabis Medicines in Clinical Practice," published on his personal website www.davidhadorn.com (website no longer available; Feb. 17, 2009):

"I have seen many patients with chronic pain, muscle spasms, nausea, anorexia, and other unpleasant symptoms obtain significant -- often remarkable -- relief from cannabis medicines, well beyond what had been provided by traditional (usually opiate-based) pain relievers."

David L. Bearman, MD, physician and medical marijuana expert, stated the following in a Mar. 1, 2006 phone interview with ProCon.org:

"I grew up knowing that cannabis could be a medicine... I'm not aware of any proven long-term [harmful] effects from cannabis. People have been trying to find major risks [from marijuana], but I've never seen any documented. We know if you smoke cannabis your chances of getting lung cancer are less than if you don't smoke anything at all." 

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) stated the following in the FAQ's section of its website, last updated on Dec. 8, 2008:

"For many patients, traditional medications do work and they do not require or desire medical marijuana. However, for a significant number of serious ill patients, including patients suffering from AIDS, cancer, multiple sclerosis and chronic pain among others, traditional medications do not provide symptomatic relief as effectively as medicinal cannabis. These patients must not be branded as criminals or forced to suffer needlessly in pain."

The American Nurses Association (ANA) wrote the following in its Mar. 19, 2004 "Position Statement: Providing Patients Safe Access to Therapeutic Marijuana/Cannabis," posted on the ANA website:

"The American Nurses Association (ANA) recognizes that patients should have safe access to therapeutic marijuana/cannabis. Cannabis or marijuana has been used medicinally for centuries. It has been shown to be effective in treating a wide range of symptoms and conditions."
 ---------------------------------------------------------------Procon.org (quotes from procon.org) no copyright intended